Managed Service SAP on Azure

The possible uses of cloud services for SAP customers are already large today and they are continually increasing. SAP Hana and S/4, but also the switch from SAP to a cloud provider brings one question into focus for practically all SAP customers: How can cloud services be used sensibly or in line with my needs?

In this context, the focus is increasingly on hybrid multicloud environments and especially on the topic of infrastructure with Infrastructure as a Service, or IaaS for short. In addition, there is also a focus on Platform as a Service, or PaaS for short, through the SAP offerings via the SAP Cloud Platform.

The fact is: On the one hand, the service offerings of public cloud service providers for the SAP environment and related to IaaS are increasing or improving practically permanently, also in monetary terms.

On the other hand, the use cases for proven and advantageous IaaS use are expanding as options in Hana and -S/4 deployment. Increasingly, customers are seeing the benefits of SAP's increased collaboration with Microsoft.

The public cloud offerings from Microsoft Azure are therefore particularly popular with SAP customers. This was also confirmed by the investment survey conducted by the German-speaking SAP user group DSAG at the beginning of the year.

It is also a fact that customers are extremely concerned about the topics and specific questions relating to cloud use in the area of SAP infrastructure. This was demonstrated at the recent NetApp Summit 2019, as well as at the All for One Group roadshow on "Modernizing SAP Infrastructure", which also focused on SAP-on-Azure scenarios.

How to plan, how to implement concretely?

How to use the cloud for the respective SAP infrastructure? How to approach and implement such a project in concrete terms? What potential pitfalls are to be avoided? Or: What efforts are necessary and what concrete benefits can be achieved through the use of cloud IaaS? These and similar questions are at the forefront of many SAP users' minds when it comes to cloud use.

All in all, there is a considerable need to build up cloud expertise. Some customers want to go down the cloud path on their own. Another part, on the other hand, is keen to concentrate on the essentials.

For example, bundling existing resources to cover application or process topics in connection with SAP S/4 Hana, for example, and transferring SAP infrastructure operation topics to an experienced managed service provider.

All the way to complete outsourcing. As a full-service provider for SAP, the All for One Group has reacted to this and, with the service package called "Managed Service SAP on Azure", provides SAP customers with bundled services for cloud deployment that can also be used partially.

Incidentally, the All for One Group is a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP). The service offering is aimed at customers of the All for One Group as well as all other customers of the SAP community and covers all aspects of "Plan, Build and Run" including application management or service management based on defined SLAs in the Azure Cloud.

In addition, the intelligent integration of SAP and Microsoft applications (e.g., Fiori/M365, IoT, and others) that can be realized using Azure as a platform is where the strategically relevant added value lies, which is usually aimed at the customers' digitization strategies.

Bundled SAP and Microsoft know-how

The company's many years of experience as a hosting and outsourcing provider and as a managed services specialist with more than 2,500 system environments (on Cisco/NetApp and in Azure), which are managed by the All for One Group for SAP customers in Germany and abroad in large data centers at Germany's largest cloud data center location in Frankfurt, have been incorporated into this process.

Likewise, Managed Service SAP on Azures is based on profound knowledge and extensive practical know-how, taking into account application needs and infrastructure requirements in terms of SAP, but also in terms of Microsoft and the Azure Cloud.

Managed Service SAP on Azure includes consulting services and architecture consulting as well as design/setup, orchestration and operation services for SAP IaaS and PaaS cloud use. And this in terms of organizational, technical and business management as well as application-specific aspects.

Cloud usage in practice

According to the All for One Group, cloud application scenarios are changing or expanding virtually continuously. Today, customers as well as managed service providers are using Azure as a cost-effective infrastructure, especially for SAP backup and restore or disaster recovery.

Or to operate SAP development, training and test systems in the public cloud. But it is also a fact that the first customers are already globally productive on Azure. And more and more companies are thinking about how they can use the cloud for productive operations. The focus, for example, is on international rollouts of SAP systems, regardless of where a branch office is opened or a subsidiary operates worldwide.

You could say: Azure is rushing ahead and is already there. It stands to reason that wherever the use of SAP S/4 Hana is specifically in focus and many IT managers are confronted with an expiration date for their conventional infrastructure, they should consider a switch to Azure.